Ultramarine is a deep
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
color
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
pigment
A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...
which was originally made by grinding
lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mine ...
into a
powder. The name comes from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
''ultramarinus'', literally 'beyond the sea', because the pigment was imported into
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
from mines in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
by
Italian traders during the
14th and
15th centuries.
Ultramarine was the finest and most expensive blue used by
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
painters. It was often used for the robes of the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
and symbolized holiness and humility. It remained an extremely expensive pigment until a synthetic ultramarine was invented in 1826.
Structure
The pigment consists primarily of a
zeolite
Zeolites are microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, oxygen, and have the general formula ・y where is either a metal ion or H+. These p ...
-based mineral containing small amounts of
polysulfides. It occurs in nature as a proximate component of
lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mine ...
containing a blue cubic mineral called
lazurite
Lazurite is a tectosilicate mineral with sulfate, sulfur and chloride with formula . It is a feldspathoid and a member of the sodalite group. Lazurite crystallizes in the isometric system although well‐formed crystals are rare. It is usual ...
. In the
Colour Index International
Colour Index International is a reference database jointly maintained by the Society of Dyers and Colourists and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists. It currently contains over 27,000 individual products listed under 13,0 ...
, the pigment of ultramarine is identified as P. Blue 29 77007. The major component of lazurite is a complex sulfur-containing sodium-silicate (Na
8–10Al
6Si
6O
24S
2–4), which makes ultramarine the most complex of all mineral
pigment
A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...
s. Some
chloride
The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride s ...
is often present in the crystal lattice as well. The blue color of the pigment is due to the
radical
Radical may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
* Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change
*Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...
anion
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
, which contains an
unpaired electron.
[
]
Shades and variations
International Klein Blue (IKB)
International Klein Blue a deep blue hue first mixed by the French artist
Yves Klein.
Electric
''Electric ultramarine'' is the tone of ultramarine that is halfway between
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
and
violet on the
RGB (HSV) color wheel, the expression of the
HSV color space
HSL (for hue, saturation, lightness) and HSV (for hue, saturation, value; also known as HSB, for hue, saturation, brightness) are alternative representations of the RGB color model, RGB color model, designed in the 1970s by computer graphics res ...
of the
RGB color model
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three ad ...
.
Production
In 1990, an estimated 20,000 tons of ultramarine were produced industrially. The raw materials used in the manufacture of synthetic ultramarine are the following:
* white
kaolin
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedra ...
,
*
anhydrous
A substance is anhydrous if it contains no water. Many processes in chemistry can be impeded by the presence of water; therefore, it is important that water-free reagents and techniques are used. In practice, however, it is very difficult to achi ...
sodium sulfate
Sodium sulfate (also known as sodium sulphate or sulfate of soda) is the inorganic compound with formula Na2SO4 as well as several related hydrates. All forms are white solids that are highly soluble in water. With an annual production of 6 mil ...
(Na
2SO
4),
* anhydrous
sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate, , (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield moderately alkaline solutions ...
(Na
2CO
3),
* powdered
sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formul ...
,
* powdered
charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ...
or relatively ash-free
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
, or
colophony in lumps.
The preparation is typically made in steps:
* The first part of the process takes place at 700 to 750 °C in a closed furnace, so that sulfur, carbon and organic substances give reducing conditions. This yields a yellow-green product sometimes used as a pigment.
* In the second step, air or sulfur dioxide at 350 to 450 °C is used to oxidise sulfide in the intermediate product to S
2 and S
''n'' chromophore
A chromophore is the part of a molecule responsible for its color.
The color that is seen by our eyes is the one not absorbed by the reflecting object within a certain wavelength spectrum of visible light. The chromophore is a region in the mo ...
molecules, resulting in the blue (or purple, pink or red) pigment.
* The mixture is heated in a kiln, sometimes in brick-sized amounts.
* The resultant solids are then ground and washed, as is the case in any other insoluble pigment's manufacturing process; the chemical reaction produces large amounts of
sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is released naturally by volcanic a ...
. (
Flue-gas desulfurization
Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) is a set of technologies used to remove sulfur dioxide () from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants, and from the emissions of other sulfur oxide emitting processes such as waste incineration.
Methods
...
is thus essential to its manufacture where SO
2 pollution is regulated.)
"Ultramarine poor in silica" is obtained by fusing a mixture of soft clay, sodium sulfate, charcoal, sodium carbonate, and sulfur. The product is at first white, but soon turns green "green ultramarine" when it is mixed with sulfur and heated. The sulfur burns, and a fine blue pigment is obtained. "Ultramarine rich in silica" is generally obtained by heating a mixture of pure clay, very fine white
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class ...
, sulfur, and charcoal in a
muffle furnace. A blue product is obtained at once, but a red tinge often results. The different ultramarines—green, blue, red, and violet—are finely ground and washed with water.
Synthetic ultramarine is a more vivid blue than natural ultramarine, since the particles in synthetic ultramarine are smaller and more uniform than the particles in natural ultramarine and therefore
diffuse light more evenly. Its color is unaffected by light nor by contact with oil or lime as used in painting.
Hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride. It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent smell. It is classified as a strong acid. It is a component of the gastric acid in the dige ...
immediately bleaches it with liberation of hydrogen sulfide. Even a small addition of
zinc oxide to the reddish varieties especially causes a considerable diminution in the intensity of the color.
File:Lapis-lazuli hg.jpg, Lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mine ...
specimen (rough), Afghanistan
File:Natural ultramarine pigment.jpg, Natural ultramarine
File:Ultramarinepigment.jpg, Synthetic ultramarine blue
File:Pigment Violet 15.jpg, Synthetic ultramarine violet
Structure and classification of ultramarines
Ultramarine is the aluminosilicate
zeolite
Zeolites are microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, oxygen, and have the general formula ・y where is either a metal ion or H+. These p ...
with a
sodalite structure. Sodalite consists of interconnected aluminosilicate cages. Some of these cages contain
polysulfide () groups that are the chromophore (color centre). The negative charge on these ions is balanced by ions that also occupy these cages.
The chromophore is proposed to be or S
4.
Applications
Synthetic ultramarine, being very cheap, is largely used for wall painting, the printing of paper hangings and calico, etc., and also as a corrective for the yellowish tinge often present in things meant to be white, such as
linen
Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant.
Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...
,
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distribu ...
, etc.
Bluing or "laundry blue" is a suspension of synthetic ultramarine (or the chemically different
prussian blue) that is used for this purpose when washing white clothes. It is also often found in make-up such as
mascara
Mascara is a cosmetic commonly used to enhance the upper and lower eyelashes. It is used to darken, thicken, lengthen, and/or define the eyelashes. Normally in one of three forms—liquid, powder, or cream—the modern mascara product has vari ...
s or eye shadows. Large quantities are used in the manufacture of paper, and especially for producing a kind of pale blue writing paper which was popular in Britain.
During World War I, the
RAF painted the outer
roundel
A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of dif ...
s with a color made from ultramarine blue. This became BS 108(381C) aircraft blue. It was replaced in the 1960s by a new color made on
phthalocyanine blue, BS110(381C) roundel blue.
History
The name derives from Middle
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
, literally "beyond the sea" because it was imported from Asia by sea.
In the past, it has also been known as ''azzurrum ultramarine'', , , , . Current terminology for ultramarine includes natural ultramarine (English), (French), (German), (Italian), and (Spanish). The first recorded use of ''ultramarine'' as a color name in English was in 1598.
The first noted use of ''lapis lazuli'' as a pigment can be seen in the 6th and 7th-century AD cave paintings in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
i
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
and
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
temples, near the most famous source of the mineral. ''Lapis lazuli'' has also been identified in Chinese paintings from the 10th and 11th centuries, in Indian mural paintings from the 11th, 12th, and 17th centuries, and on Anglo-Saxon and Norman illuminated manuscripts from c.1100.
Middle Ages and the Renaissance
File:The Wilton Diptych (Right).jpg, The Wilton Diptych (1395–1399) is an example of the use of ultramarine in 14th-century England
File:Masaccio. Madonna and Child. 1426. National Gallery, London.jpg, The blue robes of the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
by Masaccio
Masaccio (, , ; December 21, 1401 – summer 1428), born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was a Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasar ...
(1426) were painted with ultramarine
File:Pietro Perugino cat54b.jpg, Pietro Perugino
Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil.
E ...
economized on this painting of the Virgin Mary (about 1500) by using azurite
Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France. The mineral, a basic car ...
for the underpainting of the robe, then adding a layer of ultramarine on top
File:Titian - Bacchus and Ariadne - Google Art Project.jpg, Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...
made dramatic use of ultramarine in the sky and draperies of ''Bacchus and Ariadne'' (1520–1523)
During the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
, ultramarine was the finest and most expensive blue that could be used by painters. The 15th century artist
Cennino Cennini wrote in his painters' handbook: "Ultramarine blue is a glorious, lovely and absolutely perfect pigment beyond all the pigments. It would not be possible to say anything about or do anything to it which would not make it more so." Natural ultramarine is the most difficult pigment to grind by hand, and for all except the highest quality of mineral, sheer grinding and washing produces only a pale grayish blue powder.
At the beginning of the 13th century, an improved method came into use, described by Cennino Cennini in the 15th century. This process consisted of mixing the ground material with melted
wax,
resin
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on nat ...
s, and
oils, wrapping the resulting mass in a cloth, and then kneading it in a dilute
lye solution. The blue particles collect at the bottom of the pot, while the impurities and colorless crystals remain. This process was performed at least three times, with each successive extraction generating a lower quality material. The final extraction, consisting largely of colorless material as well as a few blue particles, brings forth ultramarine ash which is prized as a
glaze for its pale blue transparency.
The pigment was most extensively used during the 14th through 15th centuries, as its brilliance complemented the
vermilion
Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It i ...
and
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...
of illuminated manuscripts and Italian panel paintings. It was valued chiefly on account of its brilliancy of tone and its inertness in opposition to sunlight, oil, and slaked
lime. It is, however, extremely susceptible to even minute and dilute mineral
acid
In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a se ...
s and acid vapors. Dilute HCl, HNO
3, and H
2SO
4 rapidly destroy the blue color, producing
hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts in ambient atmosphere having a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. The under ...
(H
2S) in the process.
Acetic acid
Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main componen ...
attacks the pigment at a much slower rate than mineral acids. Ultramarine was only used for
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...
es when it was applied ''
secco Secco is a surname of Italian origin, which means ''dry''. It may refer to:
*Alessio Secco (b. 1970), Italian professional football manager
* Deborah Secco (b. 1979), Brazilian actress
*Louis Secco (b. 1927), Canadian Olympic ice hockey player
*Se ...
'' because frescoes'
absorption rate made its use cost prohibitive. The pigment was mixed with a binding medium like egg to form a
tempera and applied over dry plaster (such as
Giotto di Bondone's frescos in the
Cappella degli Scrovegni or
Arena Chapel in
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
).
European artists used the pigment sparingly, reserving their highest quality blues for the robes of
Mary and the
Christ child
The Christ Child, also known as Divine Infant, Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, the Divine Child, Child Jesus, the Holy Child, Santo Niño, and to some as Señor Noemi refers to Jesus Christ from his nativity to age 12.
The four canonical gospels, a ...
. As a result of the high price, artists sometimes economized by using a cheaper blue,
azurite
Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France. The mineral, a basic car ...
, for under painting. Most likely imported to Europe through
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, the pigment was seldom seen in German art or art from countries north of Italy. Due to a shortage of azurite in the late 16th and 17th century, the price for the already-expensive ultramarine increased dramatically.
In the 17th and 18th century
File:Sassoferrato - Jungfrun i bön.jpg, Sassoferrato
Sassoferrato is a town and '' comune'' of the province of Ancona in the Marche region of central-eastern Italy.
History
To the south of the town lie the ruins of the ancient Sentinum, on the Via Flaminia. The castle above the town is menti ...
's depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother ...
, c. 1654. Her blue cloak is painted in ultramarine.
File:Johannes Vermeer - Girl with a Pearl Earring - WGA24666.jpg, Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1665)
File:Johannes Vermeer - Lady Standing at a Virginal.jpg, Lady Standing at a Virginal, by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1675)
Johannes Vermeer made extensive use of ultramarine in his paintings. The turban of the ''
Girl with a Pearl Earring'' is painted with a mixture of ultramarine and lead white, with a thin glaze of pure ultramarine over it. In ''Lady Standing at a Virginal'', the young woman's dress is painted with a mixture of ultramarine and green earth, and ultramarine was also used to add shadows in the flesh tones. Scientific analysis by the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
in London of ''Lady Standing at a Virginal'' showed that the ultramarine in the blue seat cushion in the foreground had degraded and become paler with time; it would have been a deeper blue when originally painted.
19th century – the discovery of synthetic ultramarine
The beginning of the development of artificial ultramarine blue was known from
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...
. In about 1787, he observed the blue deposits on the walls of lime kilns near
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...
in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
. He was aware of the use of these glassy deposits as a substitute for lapis lazuli in decorative applications. He did not, however, mention if it was suitable to grind for a pigment.
In 1814,
Tassaert observed the spontaneous formation of a blue compound, very similar to ultramarine, if not identical with it, in a
lime kiln at St. Gobain, which caused the to offer, in 1824, a prize for the artificial production of the precious color. Processes were devised by
Jean Baptiste Guimet
Jean-Baptiste Guimet (20 July 17958 April 1871), French industrial chemist, and inventor of synthetic colors, was born at Voiron, Isère.
He studied at the École Polytechnique in Paris, and in 1817 entered the Administration des Poudres et Sa ...
(1826) and by
Christian Gmelin (1828), then professor of chemistry in Tübingen; while Guimet kept his process a secret, Gmelin published his, and thus became the originator of the "artificial ultramarine" industry.
General terminology
Ultramarine is a blue made from natural
lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mine ...
, or its synthetic equivalent which is sometimes called "French Ultramarine".
Variants of the pigment "ultramarine red", "ultramarine green", "ultramarine violet" are known, and are based on similar chemistry and crystal structure.
More generally "ultramarine blue" can refer to a vivid blue. The term "ultramarine green" indicates a dark green,
barium chromate is sometimes referred to as "ultramarine yellow".
Ultramarine pigment has also been termed "Gmelin's blue", "Guimet's blue", "New blue", "Oriental blue" and "Permanent blue".
See also
*
Blue pigments
Blue pigments are natural or synthetic materials, usually made from minerals and insoluble with water, used to make the blue colors in painting and other arts. The raw material of the earliest blue pigment, lapis lazuli, came from mines in Afgha ...
*
RAL 5002 Ultramarine blue
*
*
Notes
Further reading
*
*
* Mangla, Ravi (8 June 2015),
True blue: a brief history of ultramarine,
''Paris Review''—Daily.
* Plesters, J. (1993), "Ultramarine Blue, Natural and Artificial", in ''Artists’ Pigments. A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol. 2'': A. Roy (Ed.)
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
, p. 37-66
External links
Discussion of ultramarinein an article on blue pigments in early Sienese paintings from ''The Journal of the American Institute for Conservation''
National Gallery essayon the altered appearance of ultramarine in the paintings of Vermeer
Ultramarine natural ColourLex
Ultramarine artificial ColourLex
HTMLCSScolor.com
HTMLCSScolor.com
*
ttps://www.pantone.com/color-finder/17-4037-TPX An alternative ultramarine color (#5A7CC2) fromPantone
Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is a limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, notably graphi ...
, pantone.com
{{Authority control
Quaternary colors
Aluminosilicates
Inorganic pigments
Zeolites
Sulfides
Shades of blue